The invention relates to image processing and more specifically to systems capable of providing manipulated character generation.
In known character generation systems it is normal for the synthetically generated digital signals representing characters to be written into a frame store so as to be available for display for example. Such known system is shown in FIG. 1. The computer 10 is capable of generating signals representing many different characters. The desired character--e.g. symbol, number or letter, and its position within the image frame is selected via keyboard 11 and the momentarily generated signal data indicative of this character is received by frame store 12 for retention. In addition, a write address is also generated and the data is written into the correct group of addresses within the frame store 12 under the control of write/read control 13, typically during the line blanking period. The addresses are selected so that the order of the signals in the image raster, when they are read out for reproduction, cause them to be displayed in a desired position in the image. Data stored in the frame store 12 is cyclically read out every field period to a display monitor 14 so as to effectively produce a continuous display of the store content on monitor 14. New characters generated via keyboard 11 are written into their appropriate store addresses, by accessing the relevant designated addresses via control 13. The data already stored at other frame store addresses is retained unless new data is written over the earlier character data as when a new character is desired to be stored in the same store address.
Whilst this system works well, its use is limited as there is no provision for flexibility of operation required if the operator wished to manipulate one character relative to another for example.